Apparel garment



April 26, 1938. w. KOPS APPAREL GARMENT Filed April 9, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

WALDEMAI? IfOPS ATTORNEY Apr-i126, 1938. w. KOPS 2,115,146

- APPAREL GARMENT v I Filed April 9, 1935 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. MLDEMAR HOP-S ATTORNEY I Patented Apr. 26, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE APPAREL GARMENT poration of New York Application April 9, 1935; Serial No. 15,385

1 Claim.

j single garment may be readily adapted for use by persons having dilferent requirements as to the location of the lower end of the support. This does away with the necessity of manufacturing garments with belts of a number of different widths in order to adequately fit wearers having abdomens depending to different extents. By my invention, providing a vertically stretchable abdominal support, a corset shop is enabled to satisfy the varied demands of its customers without carrying a large stock. One difliculty heretofore in garments equipped with abdominal supports has been that the belt portion when lifting the abdomen and pushing the flesh upwardly and outwardly has caused what is known as pitch,

; that is, the belt instead of remaining in a vertical position has had a tendency to slant in close to the body at its lowest edge and pull away from the body at its upper edge, thus causing a bulge adjacent the diaphragm of the wearer.

By making the abdominal support stretchable vertically, a garment is provided whichis'adapted to lift and maintain the abdominal organs in their correct and natural position without creating this pitch. The support has been rendered more efficient and effective in other respects also and affords greater comfort to the wearer. Further objects of the invention will be apparent from the detailed description of one embodiment of my invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is a perspective View of the garment being worn, but with the outer or body member partly thrown back to show the belt in wearing position.

Figure 2 is a front elevation on a larger scale with a portion of the outer member broken away to show the belt; 7

- Figure 3 is a plan view of the garment opened up and viewed from the inner side thereof.

Figure 4 is a sectional view on the line 4-4 of Figure 3, and

Figure 5 is a sectional view on the line..55 of Figure 2.

The garment of my invention in its preferred embodiment, which is illustrated, comprises a body member 2 which may be detachably fastened along the left side by any suitable means so that it surrounds the body of the wearer. This body member is made up of front section 3 and back section 4 in conjunction with side sections 5 and E. The front section preferably extends from above the bust line to below the hips and is made up of three main portionsincluding lateral portions 1 and 8, and a central portion 9. These three sections are longitudinal with respect to the wearer's body and joined by suitably stitched reinforcing seams at In and II. This may, of course, all be one piece of cloth, if desired, and simply reinforced by binding tape or other suitable means. preferably curved at its outer edge l2 so as to conform more readily to the contour of the body and is provided with suitable fastening means. Central portion 9 is preferably reinforced by a lining member 9' extending from the line l3 to the upwardly curved line [4 and held at its vertical edges by the stitching l0 and H joining the lateral sections to the central section. This lining member may be stitched to the main garment at its lower edge, but is preferably left free to prevent the garment from wrinkling. The central section may also be supplied with an elastic inverted V-shaped insert or gore, as at 15, to

assist in allowing the garment to conform to the,

body and to provide for extra stretching when the body is in a bent position as in sitting down. The whole front section is cut away along the lines l6 and IT to allow for the incorporation of brassiere elements in the form of pieces ofsuitable material l8 and I9, joined. to the front section 3 as by stitching down from the top along the lines 20, 2i to points near the juncture of lateral sections 1 and 8.with central section 9 and thence upwardly and outwardly along the lines 22 and 23. p .1 p

The back section 4 is made up of three longitudinal sections 24, 25 and 26 connected by suitable reinforcing members 21 and 28 and the whole assembly. tapers slightly inwardly toward the top. Thereinforcing members may provide The lateral section I. is

pockets for stays 29 and 30, if desired. Addi tom of the center sections 26 and is stitchedinto back section at its other side by a reinforcing strip 45, which provides a pocket for a stay Another elastic insert/48 may a similar to stay 43. be used here similar to insert 44. The other side of this side section is curved at the edge symmetrically with edge I2 and has fastening means adapted. to cooperate therewith.

The abdominal support is associated with the -main portion of the garment in such a way that it serves to liftand pull back the abdomen, providing an overlying portion to secure a straight line and the whole cooperating with the back Section 26 of the main arment which, functions as a buttocksretainer.

The abdominal support is made up of a belt, which is connected to the outer garment by the seams 42 and 45. Three major sections make up the belt and consist of a front section 49, permanently connected to a side section 50 by means of the elastic strip 5|, and to a side section 52 which is joined to the other side of the back por: tion of the main garment at the seam 45. This latter side section tapers inwardly fro-m bottom to top and is preferably cut atan angle along the lines 53 and 54 to'obtain a better fitting. The bottom edge 53 is in a positionto follow the line of the groin'of the wearer, 'thus'affording the best support. 'A reinforcing strip is suitably stitched in place for additional strength at the seam 55 joining the separate portions of section 52 and an elastic strip 56 is joinedtothe section 52 at a reinforced seam 51 which provides a pocket for a short stay 58 near its top.

Suitable fastening means such as eyes 6lfare fixed into the'binding at the outer edge of elastic strip 55 and are shielded from the'body of the wearer by means of an overlapping'strip 62 of some soft material, such as flannel, which is stitched to "the elastic along [a seam 63. Side section 50 is similar to 'section 52 and is reinforced by a strip 64; It is, also, preferably cut at an angle along its top and bottom 66. However, if it should be desired, both the sections 50 and 52 may be substantially rectangular in shape, withoutanrattempt to conform to the contour of the body, or they may be cut on any other suitable angle. Reinforcing seams 61 and B8, joining the elastic strip 5! to the front section 49 and side section 55 are preferably stitched to provide short pockets in 'their upper portions for the stays 69 and 10. Front section 49 maybe substantially rectangular in shape but is preferably tapered slightly jinwardly, curved at its top edge H, and somewhat cutaway at itSbottom edge :2. Relatively widelongitudinal reinforcing strips 13, l4,-and l5 are'stitched into a this front section in. a slightly fan-shaped arrangement and provide pockets for Stays which are correspondingly wider than usual. Asub;

stantially keystone shaped diaphragm'supportin'g lining piece 16 issewed into the front section 49 by the stitching along the upperedge 1], down the side seams '88 and 'l'l' and do'wnthe center by' seams 18 and 19.1This lining member is simply boundat the'edges '88 and 8l b ut not fastened to the front section 49. The stitching at 18 and 19 may be entirely eliminated or stitching may be provided in addition thereto or in lieu thereof along the seams of the reinforcing strips 13 and 15.

At the free edges of the front section suitable fastening means, such as hooks 82, are attached to the binding adapted to cooperate with eyes 6! to fasten this belt around the wearer. Im-

mediately below the diaphragm support and fastened thereto by suitable stitching 84 is an abdominal supporting member 83, preferably made of elastic material which Stretches only in a vertical direction, and shaped to'conform to the contour of the abdomen as by means of the seam or dart 83". In the claims this shape of the vertically stretchingabdominal support is referred to as slightly pocketed. Of course, it will be apparent that this member may also if desired be made of elastic material having a twoway stretch as long as it can be stretched vertically.

This member is preferably joined to.

the girdle proper only at the aforementioned seam 84 and is thus supported from substantially 7 is in turn attached to side section 58 at 81. Thus,

the side support 85 of the sling extends around the body in aslightly downwardly direction. The.

abdominal support 83 is provided at its opposite edge with eyes 88 attached to the binding thereofand adapted to cooperate with hooks 89 to fasten the sling so formedin position. A piece of suitable soft material) servestoshieldthe body from the fasteners and is sewed to the support at the seam- 9i. An elastic member 92,

similar to member 85, is stitched into seam 51 along the line 93 andcarriesthe hooks 89 thereby cooperating in pulling the support 83 ;b a ck into place. Y j a As mentioned'above, in the preferred embodiment of my invention, the elastic of the abdomi nalsupport 83 stretches only in a vertical posi tion, while v the elastic of supporting sections, and 92 stretch only in a substantially horizontal direction, thusfl'providing' an assembly which simultaneously lifts the abdomen and pulls it back into place, while bycooperationwith the back member 26 through side sections 50 and 52 it functions as a buttocks retainer. The main portion of the girdle 49 overlies the sling, provides additional support, and smooths out any'bul ge's which may be produced by the-sling,;being only loosely attached to this member.

The whole garment may be supported from the shoulders by means of-straps' 94-and 95 of elastic orother suitable ,material. *These straps are joined'to the back portion 26, at the seamsi 96 and 9'! and to the top of the brassire elements .at the points 98 and;99.'; If -de'sired,'cross straps I00 and NH may be'stitched in to distribute, the

I pullon the saidbras'siere-members. Suitable adjustable hose supporters 'may also besupplied, such as the depending members I82 and '|03.at the back of the garment. In the front I prefer to attach one end of the elastic straps I04 and V N15 to the girdle at the points I06 and H11, while the other 'end thereof is attached totheymain hose supporters, themselves, hang from these straps on the freely sliding members I I and I I I.

As will now be understood the garment comprises chiefly three substantially independent layers across the front of the body, all connected to the back portion of the garment by elastic means. Of these three layers the inner one, or sling supporter, is substantially all of elastic material. The main portion of the abdominal belt overlies and covers this sling supporter, smoothing out any bulges that may be caused thereby. The outer portion of the garment overlies and covers the whole belt assembly and provides a smooth surface on which outer garments may rest. Also, if one portion of the garment should be pulled, or come out of place in any way, it does not materially affect the position of the other portions of the garment, which are substantially independent thereof. The sling support can be stretched and pulled down to any desired place on the body when being put in position, and when released will automatically lift the abdominal walls to their correct position. The side elastic bands of the sling supporter, in addition to coacting in the lifting of the abdomen insures correct positioning along the groin line of the wearer,

The fastening means may, of course, be all located on the right side, or arranged in any other suitable manner.

As described the garment has three sets of fasteners. These may be condensed, for example, into two sets by stitching the elastic member 92 to the central support 83, stitching the free edge of elastic strip 56 to the free edge of the belt or central section 49, and providing simply a single row of fasteners along the edge of member 52, to replace the seam 57, adapted to cooperate with other fasteners on the then free edges of elastic strips 56 and 92. It will be understood that these free edges of these strips will then be joined together by stitching to facilitate fastening by the single set of fasteners.

Other modifications may be made. The sections 83, B5 and 92 might be a unitary piece cut out of two way stretch elastic material or these three sections together with supporting member 16 might be similarly a single piece of two way stretch elastic fabric. On the other hand sections 16 and 83 could be a unitary'm'ember of either vertically stretchable one-way elastic or two-way stretch material. In any of these modifications, of course, the sling portion of the main belt may be simply suspended from the top edge 1! or it may in addition be tacked to the main belt at 84, or the manner of attachment which has previously been described may be followed.

The terms and expressions which I have employed are used as terms of description and not of limitation, and I have no intention, in the use of such terms and expressions of excluding any equivalents of the features shown and described or portions thereof, but recognize that various modifications are possible within the scope of the invention claimed.

What I claim is:

In an apparel garment a body encircling member, and an inner belt member within said body encircling member comprising an elastic abdominal support made up of a central elastic member arranged to exert a vertical pull to lift the abdomen, elastic side members, connected with said central member and arranged to exert a transverse tension thereon to hold said central member 7 WALDEMAR KOPS. 

